The Intellectual Property Law Program was honored to receive an Instructional Innovation Seed Grant in the amount of $5,000 from UMB’s Leaders in Education: Academy of Presidential Scholars (LEAPS) initiative. This grant will fund a trial program where intellectual property students will participate in a simulation of practicing before the USPTO and its Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB).
The Instructional Innovation Seed Grant offered by LEAPS is designed “to provide the opportunity to experiment, test, or implement a teaching innovation that addresses an important instructional concern and improves teaching and student learning with the goal of increasing student success.”
Opportunities for moot court or other legal simulations are prevalent throughout Maryland Carey Law, but none focuses on intellectual property topics. This seed grant will provide the IP Program with the resources needed to get this simulation off the ground.
Project Leader and Managing Director of the Intellectual Property Program, Heather Terech, is hopeful this seed grant and the program it spawns will fill a common request of IP students. “All students have the option to take our incredibly popular Intellectual Property and Entrepreneurship Clinic, but there are only so many spots available each semester and the ability to engage in meaningful legal simulations before graduation is so valuable to students. We hope this will offer students the ability to hone their legal skills independent of the Clinic.”
Director of the Intellectual Property Program, Patricia Campbell, lauded Terech’s efforts. “This is a big win for the IP Program at Carey Law. It’s a testament to our eagerness to engage our students in new and exciting ways while setting them up for success in their legal careers. We’re all very proud of Heather and the great work she does for our program and our students.”
The IP Program is putting in motion the next steps for bringing this program to fruition by engaging with Carey Law community members and other experts in the field of both intellectual property and experiential learning. This simulation will be offered to students in the Spring of 2025.